Splash.
Splash, splash.
Off a cape on Puji Island's west coast.
A beautiful coral reef cliff stretched for several kilometers beyond the cape. When the surging waves struck the reef, they let out furious roars and crashed into sprays of snow-white foam.
Old Man Ruo Yu's figure silently appeared atop the white lighthouse surrounded by reefs. Standing within the stone railing and leaning on his wolf-head staff, he frowned as he gazed into the sea's depths, which seemed like a mass of chaos.
He had visited the seaside before, but after entering that office and seeing sights higher and farther away, he seemed to have rarely paid attention to the scenery so close at hand.
In his memory, beneath the white tower should have been an emerald sea. The splashing water should have glittered like crystal; in the shallows, fish could be seen swimming amid swaying seaweed, while farther out, as the seabed gradually descended, the colors layered with the sea until they finally blended into an endless deep blue.
But now—
As far as the eye could see, the sea that should have had a deep-blue base had turned bluish-black, streaked with a heavy grayish white. It looked like a huge mass of murky jelly, bearing not the slightest resemblance to the scene in his memory.
"It's truly hideous."
The Vice Principal of First University muttered as he looked at the enormous "jelly" before him. He shook his head slightly and added, "—Ugly and filthy. It wasn't like this before."
Then he turned to the side and asked calmly, "—So, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you're the one who dirtied this place. Shi Hui will kill you."
At some point, an abrupt figure had appeared beside him.
It was an old wizard with a sallow, withered